Questions for Written Answer: Reply Times

Lord Jopling: asked the Leader of the House:
	What action she will take in view of the 151 Questions for Written Answer tabled between 23 November and 20 December 2004 which had not been answered by 11 January when the target time for answers is two weeks; and whether she will propose that a further Minister be appointed in the House of Lords with the responsibility of ensuring that Questions are answered within the target period.

Baroness Amos: The number of outstanding Questions has fallen to 69.
	A delay in responses from departments is expected at this time of year as a result of the Christmas Recess and holiday period. A number of the Questions tabled also require very detailed responses which can lead to delays.
	I continue on a weekly basis to review outstanding questions with my ministerial colleagues. My officials track the progress made with departments daily.
	Ministerial appointments remain a matter for the Prime Minister.

Extradition Act 2003

Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many requests for extradition from countries falling within Part 1 and Part 2 of the Extradition Act 2003 had been received by 31 December 2003, categorised by individual countries.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The designation of countries under the Extradition Act 2003 as either Part 1 or Part 2 extradition partners did not have any effect until 1 January 2004. It is expected that in due course all European Union member states will become Part 1 partners, but not all are yet designated as such. Figures are given for the calendar year 2003, which was the last year for which requests could be received under the Extradition Act 1989. The countries are categorised by current status as follows:
	
		Requests from current Part 1 partners
		
			  Number 
			 Austria 0 
			 Belgium 9 
			 Cyprus 0 
			 Denmark 0 
			 Finland 0 
			 France 8 
			 Hungary 2 
			 Latvia 0 
			 Lithuania 6 
			 Luxembourg 0 
			 Malta 0 
			 Netherlands 11 
			 Poland 2 
			 Portugal 6 
			 Slovenia 1 
			 Spain 5 
			 Sweden 3 
		
	
	
		Requests from current Part 2 partners
		
			  Number 
			 Argentina 2 
			 Australia 4 
			 Azerbaijan 1 
			 Bulgaria 1 
			 Canada 1 
			 Czech Republic 11 
			 Germany 12 
			 Greece 1 
			 India 1 
			 Italy 8 
			 Monaco 1 
			 Norway 1 
			 Romania 1 
			 Switzerland 1 
			 Turkey 1 
			 Uganda 1 
			 USA 14 
			 Zimbabwe 1 
			 All others 0 
		
	
	Note:
	The Republic of Ireland, although now a Part 1 partner, was until 1 January 2004 a partner under the Backing of Warrants (Republic of Ireland) Act 1965 and figures were not held centrally for their requests to the UK.

Religious Discrimination

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will ensure that the proposed legislation to extend the law against religious discrimination will give similar protection against discrimination to that contained in the Race Relations Act 1976, as amended, including provision for the definition of discrimination and the circumstances in which it will be unlawful to discriminate.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: In the Queen's Speech on 23 November, the Government announced their plans to introduce legislation to protect people from religious discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities, services, and premises. The legislation will be introduced at the earliest opportunity.
	It is intended that the proposed legislation will give protection from both direct and indirect religious discrimination in a similar manner to that from racial discrimination provided by the Race Relations Act 1976, as amended.

UN Convention Against Corruption

Lord Avebury: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	When they expect to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The Government have every intention of ratifying the UN Convention Against Corruption as soon as is practicably possible. Ratification is dependent on the laying of two Orders in Council, one under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and one under the Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990.
	The latter is dependent on an amendment to an enabling power currently being made in Clause 87 of the current Serious Organised and Crime and Police Bill. We hope to bring the necessary orders into force by the end of the year.

Prisons: Smoking Policy

Lord Corbett of Castle Vale: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What steps HM Prison Service is taking to provide non-smoking cells and wings in its estate.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Each prison develops its own non-smoking policy in line with current health and safety advice and taking into account the type of establishment it is, its population and the special needs of that population. Wherever possible prisoners should not be required to share accommodation with a smoker if they so request.

Radio Frequency Identification

Lord Astor of Hever: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What steps the Defence Logistics Organisation is taking to utilise radio frequency identification technology to track containers and their contents distributed in support of military deployments.

Lord Bach: The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is currently utilising radio frequency identification (RFiD) technology to track containers and aircraft loads in support of military deployments. The system used is an American system known as total asset visibility or TAV; a system also used by the United States military. TAV was procured during Op TELIC and led to real improvements in the MoD's ability to track consignments. The system currently consists of a network of over 120 fixed readers located at key nodes within the defence supply chain. Coverage includes the United Kingdom, Germany, Iraq, Afghanistan, Cyprus and Canada. The system is fully interoperable with the United States military's consignment tracking system and this effectively gives the UK access to the US system of readers around the world. Additionally, the MoD also procured mobile readers known as early entry deployable support kits which are used to provide temporary coverage before fixed readers can be installed. The MoD continues to keep abreast of developments and intends to evaluate RFiD's further potential use within defence.

HMS "Ark Royal"

Lord Astor of Hever: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What factors would need to be taken into account in a decision to recover HMS "Ark Royal" from a state of extended readiness and bring her back into commission.

Lord Bach: The Royal Navy aircraft carriers (CVS) are programmed on an operational readiness cycle, with each ship held at a different level of operational availability according to its position in the cycle. At the time plans were drawn up to place HMS "Ark Royal" in a state of reduced readiness, it was recognised that before returning to operations she would require a period of repair and maintenance (upkeep) to restore her material state. Following this planned upkeep period, it is currently intended that HMS "Ark Royal" will complete a period of training for her ship's company and embarked air group to bring her to the required state of operational readiness to allow her to be employed on fleet tasking in 2007.

Building Regulations: Electrical Installations

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Rooker on 2 December 2004 (WA 17) concerning the implications of the Building (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1808), how many additional qualified local authority inspectors will be required to process the notifications of electrical work to be undertaken by private householders and to inspect the work after completion; and what is the likely cost of such processing and inspection to the household.

Lord Rooker: The number of additional local authority inspectors needed to process applications for and inspect electrical installation work undertaken by private householders is dependent on the number of notifications made to the local authorities. All local authorities in England and Wales will need adequate resources to undertake this work. Local authorities are required to set their own charges for carrying out their main building control functions, which should be based on full cost recovery. Thus, they should be able to employ additional resources to meet demand.
	Local authority building control charges are generally set in bands based on the value of the notifiable work in their schemes which each authority must make publicly available. Much notifiable electrical installation work undertaken by private householders should fall into the lowest band.

National Heritage Memorial Fund

Lord Tebbit: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the policy of the National Heritage Memorial Fund not to finance new memorials was determined by that body without guidance by the Government.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The National Heritage Act 1980 (as amended by the National Heritage Act 1997) sets out the type of projects to which the trustees of the National Heritage Memorial Fund may give financial assistance. The trustees' policy on decisions as to which projects they give financial assistance is a matter for them, independent of government.

Foot and Mouth Disease

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has shredded any of its records at national, regional or local level in respect of the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001.

Lord Whitty: Defra is not aware of any of its official records having been shredded at national, regional or local level in respect of the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001. Defra has already made considerable efforts to bring together and consolidate centrally the foot and mouth record from all regional disease centres that were involved in the outbreak. Once this considerable task has been completed the record will be preserved in its entirety until it enters the formal Defra record review process in 2008. The National Archives have been kept up to date with progress on this issue and will decide in time whether to retain this record as part of its permanent collection.

Foot and Mouth Disease

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	When a Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister first knew of the video taken by the Northumberland trading standards officers on Bobby Waugh's farm on 24 February 2001.

Lord Whitty: I first became aware of the video when extracts from it were shown in the television news media at the time of Robert Waugh's trial in May 2002, and it was brought to Ministers' attention again as a result of the recent media and parliamentary interest generated by pig swill campaigners.

Foot and Mouth Disease

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will clarify when a Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister first saw the video taken by the Northumberland trading standards officers on Bobby Waugh's farm on 24 February 2001.

Lord Whitty: I first became aware of the video when extracts of it were shown in the television news media at the time of Robert Waugh's trial in May 2002. Its existence was brought to the attention of Ministers again as a result of the media and parliamentary interest in the video that was recently generated by swill feed campaigners. My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Commons) and I have watched the video. I refer the noble Baroness to the Written Ministerial Statement about the video made on 13 December 2004.

Foot and Mouth Disease

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Statement by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 13 December (HC Deb, 113WS), why department officials were unaware that copies of the Northumberland County Council video of Burnside Farm in September 2003 had already been sent to the department in February 2003, when making their request for copies of the video.

Lord Whitty: The official who was asked to obtain a copy of the video in September 2004 asked those colleagues whom he thought might know if a copy of the video was already in the possession of Defra. He was subsequently sent a copy by Defra's Newcastle animal health divisional office which had obtained a copy from Northumberland County Council after Farmers Weekly had approached Defra about the video.

Foot and Mouth Disease

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Within their current contingency planning for the future eradication of foot and mouth disease, which of the following factors have the highest priority:
	(a) length of the outbreak;
	(b) number of animals killed; and
	(c) overall cost to Government.

Lord Whitty: The Government do not base decisions on any one or combination of those considerations. The disease control strategy adopted will be consistent with the UK's EU obligations and in line with the appropriate EU legislation. The Government's objective in tackling any outbreak of FMD will be to control and eradicate the disease and to restore the UK's disease-free status as quickly as possible. In doing so, the Government will seek to select control strategies which balance minimising the number of animals which need to be slaughtered, either to control the disease or on welfare grounds, and which keeps animal welfare problems to a minimum; causing the least possible disruption to the food, farming and tourism industries, to visitors to the countryside, and to rural communities and the wider economy; minimising damage to the environment and protecting public health; and minimising the burden on taxpayers and the public at large.

Foot and Mouth Disease

The Countess of Mar: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What account was taken of species variation in relation to susceptibility to infection and onward transmission of foot and mouth virus in estimating possible dates of viral introduction to premises at Burnside Farm, Heddon-on-the-Wall and Prestwick Hall Farm, Ponteland; and
	What is the evidence to support the assertions that contaminated meat was not imported into the United Kingdom and that it was "highly improbable that the disease could have been imported legally from South Africa" (Anderson I (2002), Foot and Mouth Disease 2001: Lessons to be Learned Inquiry).

Lord Whitty: I refer the noble Countess to the Origin of the UK Foot and Mouth Disease Epidemic in 2001 that was published in June 2002 and placed in the Library.

Foot and Mouth Disease

The Countess of Mar: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What evidence was adduced to support the contention that "Catering waste, containing illegally imported meat infected with virus is believed to have been fed to pigs as swill." (Anderson I (2002), Foot and Mouth Disease 2001: Lessons to be Learned Inquiry).

Lord Whitty: I refer the noble Countess to the Origin of the UK Foot and Mouth Disease Epidemic in 2001 that was published in June 2002 and placed in the Library.

Foot and Mouth Disease

The Countess of Mar: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How they account for the fact that none of the pigs, cattle or sheep found at Heddon View, Heddon-on-the-Wall, adjacent to Burnside Farm, where swill for Burnside Farm was processed, was shown to have clinical signs of foot and mouth disease prior to slaughter as direct contacts on 24 February 2001.

Lord Whitty: Dangerous contact animals are slaughtered if they appear to have been in any way exposed to the infection of foot and mouth disease, the objective being to slaughter them before they develop disease and propagate infection. It is therefore not surprising that clinical signs of disease were not found in the animals at Heddon View.

Foot and Mouth Disease

The Countess of Mar: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether cattle and sheep at Prestwick Hall Farm were found to be clinically affected by foot and mouth disease on 22 February 2001; whether some sheep were seropositive for foot and mouth disease; and whether earlier in February
	(a) sheep had been treated for lameness; and
	(b) some cattle had been treated for metabolic acidosis,
	which are complaints which can be confused with signs of foot and mouth disease.

Lord Whitty: I refer the noble Countess to the Origin of the UK Foot and Mouth Disease Epidemic in 2001 that was published in June 2002 and placed in the Library.
	The farmer's private veterinary surgeon diagnosed and treated Limousine heifers on Prestwick Hall Farm for barley acidosis on 19 February 2001.

Foot and Mouth Disease

Baroness Howe of Idlicote: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What investigations were carried out to examine possible alternative origins and spread of foot and mouth disease during and after the 2001 outbreak.

Lord Whitty: I refer the noble Baroness to the Origin of the UK Foot and Mouth Disease Epidemic in 2001 that was published in June 2002 and placed in the Library.

Fly-Tipping

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by Lord Whitty on 10 January (WA 17), whether they will undertake a review to establish why, out of 17,216 incidents of fly-tipping in 2000 to 2003, prosecutions were carried out in only 992 cases.

Lord Whitty: The Environment Agency has an enforcement and prosecutions policy that sets out the general principles which the agency follows to ensure that preventive or remedial action is taken to protect the environment or to secure compliance with the regulatory system governing waste.
	Local authority prosecutions are a matter for individual local authorities to decide upon. Defra has funded the agency to develop the local authority capacity programme to develop and improve local authority enforcement skills.

Railways: Salisbury to Yeovil Line

Lord Patten: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Davies of Oldham on 21 December 2004 (WA 151), for what reasons there are no plans to modernise the single track line on the railway between Salisbury and Yeovil to double track.

Lord Davies of Oldham: SRA advises that the project is not a priority due to the costs involved and the more pressing need for investment elsewhere on the network.